Hunter v. Adams

180 Cal. App. 2d 511, 4 Cal. Rptr. 776, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2365
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 29, 1960
DocketCiv. 18827
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 180 Cal. App. 2d 511 (Hunter v. Adams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunter v. Adams, 180 Cal. App. 2d 511, 4 Cal. Rptr. 776, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2365 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

MOLINARI, J. pro tem. *

This is an appeal from a judgment discharging an alternative writ of mandamus and the denial of a petition for a peremptory writ of mandamus. The facts, as found by the trial court, are substantially as follows:

The appellant Jones is the owner of certain real property in the city of Monterey, and the appellant Hunter is the purchaser of said property pursuant to a written agreement of sale entered into on October 28, 1958. The said contract spe *514 eifieally provided that the sale was conditioned upon the obtaining of a permit by Hunter for the erection of a motel on said property. Plans and specifications for said motel were presented, to and approved by the city’s architectural committee. On December 22, 1958, said plans and specifications were presented to respondent Adams in his capacity as building inspector for said city. Adams approved said plans and specifications as complying with the city’s building code, but refused to issue a permit on the basis that he had been so directed by the city council, stating that a resolution had been passed by said council forbidding the issuance of permits in the area in which said property was located. The city council had on December 2, 1958, passed “Resolution No. 8936 C.S.” which provided that from December 2, 1958, to and including the year 1959, no building permit was to be issued for the construction of any new structure upon any property or for any major improvement of any property located within a certain area which had been established as a redevelopment project by said council.

The city of Monterey is a city chartered pursuant to the Constitution of the State of California. Said charter provides that “the Council shall act in legislative matters by ordinances or resolutions, only.” Prior to the adoption of the resolution in question the said city council had, on October 1, 1957, created an Urban Renewal Agency * pursuant to the Community Redevelopment Law of the State of California. After study the said agency recommended to the city council the establishment of an Urban Renewal Area and later within such area, an Urban Renewal Project. In February, 1958, application was made by the agency and the city council to the federal government for planning and grant monies for urban renewal purposes in the project area known as the “Custom House Renewal Area.” On August 14, 1958, the agency requested the city council to freeze building permits in the project area, temporarily, while the comprehensive plan for said area was being developed. In October of 1958 the application to the federal government was amended requesting $110,000 in planning monies and $585,696 in grant monies and pledging $934,304 as the city’s part of the redevelopment cost through its own and state credits. In November, 1958, the federal agencies advised the agency that said amended application would be approved shortly, and *515 on December 8, 1958, it was approved. At the time Hunter submitted his plans to the architectural committee he knew that the proposed motel would be located in the project area but stated that he understood he would be entitled to the motel site in the area wherever it was located and that he would move it to another location on a site permitted under the Redevelopment Plan.

The trial court found further that the resolution in question was passed in order to preserve, temporarily, the status quo in the project area; that the planning monies will be used to make plans, studies, analyses, and appraisals having to do with the following, to wit: the determination of what areas are blighted; the potential highest uses of the land in the area; engineering studies for utilities and landscaping; relocation studies; appraisals for assessment purposes; market value of the land to be taken and its value after it is cleared and made available for the uses indicated in the proposed plan; and for the preparation of the Urban Renewal Plan specifying land uses, zoning, and building requirement ordinances. The trial court found also that no tentative plan for redevelopment of the project area has been completed and no public hearing has been held on such tentative plan that the plans and specifications for the erection of the said motel are in compliance with the requirements of the existing building code and are not in violation of said code or existing zoning restrictions; that appellants cannot proceed lawfully to erect such structure without such permit; that the appellants have incurred great expense in preparing said plans and will incur further expense because of any delay in carrying out their intentions; that appellants are without a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the course of law; that respondents refuse and withhold the issuance of such permit; and that such refusal deprives appellants of the beneficial use of said property; but that respondents have not acted in a discriminatory, arbitrary and confiscatory manner.

The question presented by this appeal is whether or not the passage of Resolution Number 8936 O.S. (freezing building permits) by the city council of Monterey was a proper exercise of police power by said council.

The appellants contend that there has been a taking or damaging of private property in violation of article I, section 14 of the California Constitution and without the proper exercise of police power; that no emergency exists for the *516 passage of the resolution; and that the resolution is in conflict with the Community Redevelopment Law.

The Community Redevelopment Law * is contained in sections 33000 to 33985, inclusive, of the Health and Safety Code. The act which then contained Health and Safety Code, sections 33000 to 33954, inclusive, was held constitutional in 1954 in the case of Redevelopment Agency v. Hayes, 122 Cal.App.2d 777 [266 P.2d 105]. In 1957 sections 33970 to 33985, inclusive, were added providing for “Urban Renewal.” The act has been subject to several legislative enactments providing for the amendment and repeal of several of its sections. In 1959, and subsequent to the occurrences herein mentioned, that portion of the act having to do with the submission and adoption of “tentative plans” (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 33560 to 33574, inclusive) was repealed. This is significant to the present appeal because section 33574, with which the appellants claim the resolution in question is in conflict, has likewise been repealed.

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Bluebook (online)
180 Cal. App. 2d 511, 4 Cal. Rptr. 776, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunter-v-adams-calctapp-1960.